Evergreen
by merae2888
Summary: Nessie Cullen has convinced her parents to let her go to an elite boarding school on the other side of the country so that she can have some independence from her overbearing vampire family. What she finds instead of an exciting high school experience is a pack of werewolves in a deadly fight against an enemy that she didn't even know existed: witches.
1. Chapter 1

The way they were staring at me, unblinking and still only the way a vampire can manage, you'd think I'd asked to join a brothel. "It's a really good school," I said.

"I don't doubt it," my father replied.

"They have a music program."

"I didn't know you wanted to study music," my mother said.

"I'm not really sure what I want to study but that's what's so great about this school." I shoved a brochure into her hands. My father looked over her shoulder at it as she opened it. "You can focus on different majors in addition to the standard classes until you find the one that you want to pursue."

"That is an interesting concept," my father said. His eyes were moving rapidly over the glossy pages of Evergreen Academy. There were dozens of pictures of happy teenaged students dressed in adorable plaid uniforms with knee high socks on the girls and blazers and checkered pants on the boys. They were holding books while chatting animatedly and walking over the cobblestoned pathways of a charming campus surrounded by great elm trees.

"Its in Connecticut," my mother said, a distinct sour note in her voice.

"That's true."

Her eyes met mine and my heart broke a bit at the look of betrayal I saw there.

"Could you have found a school any farther away from Forks?"

"Well, there was one in Hawaii that I was considering but I thought all the sunshine would make it difficult for you to visit."

My father graced me with a wane smile. "How kind of you to consider our feelings."

"Oh, come on! I'm asking to go to an elite boarding school. Most parents would be thrilled if their kids wanted to pursue a better education." I sighed and they exchanged a look that clearly stated I was an unbearable teenager. I sat down and put on my best puppy dog eyes. They didn't seem impressed. "This is the opportunity of a lifetime. They don't just accept anyone that sends in an application."

"You've already applied?" my father asked.

"Did I not open my pitch with that?"

"Nessie, how could you do that without coming to us first?"

"Maybe because I could just guess as to how receptive you'd be to the idea."

"Well, how could we be receptive to it?" My mother jumped up from the couch, the pamphlet crumpling in her hand. "It's all the way across the country! You belong home, with us. You're only sixteen!"

My father and I both snorted at that one. He put a hand on her shoulder and she slowly sat down on the couch again. "Bella, she might have been on this planet for sixteen years but Carlisle said just the other day that she has progressed well beyond the mental capacities of a twenty two year old."

"That doesn't mean that she's ready to move away from her family and home." I'm sure if my mom were able to cry, she would have been.

"Mom," I whispered. I reached out and grabbed her hand. "You might be completely right but I'm ready to try. I'm sorry if that hurts your feelings but I'm so ready to do something new and try something harder. I can't sit through ordinary tenth grade classes anymore. I'm going to become suicidal if I have to write another paper on 'How to Kill a Mockingbird.'" She finally smiled at me and I held my breath. If she got on board, my dad would cave in a second.

"You have to come home every weekend."

"Mom, that's insane."

"We can afford it."

"That's not the point."

My dad leaned forward. "How about one weekend every month?"

My mother remained silent for several tense seconds. "I can agree to that."

"What about every two months?" She looked like she was about to argue but I spoke again before she could. "It might be a dream come true to have your only child out of the house. You could have some alone time, second honeymoon type deal. You should think about that but don't tell me anything."

My mother bestowed upon me her most exhausted expression. "Let's see how the first month goes."

I jumped into her arms and hugged her. "I love you so much, you have no idea!"

"We have some idea," my father said with a chuckle. Their arms encircled me and held me close.

The rest of the summer was spent ordering textbooks and uniforms, submitting my housing forms and packing. There was also an immense amount of time devoted to creating my new identity. The Volturri hadn't threatened us in years but if there did happen to be a spy in the Connecticut area, it would be better if I didn't bear the name Renesmee Cullen. My new name was Vanessa Collins. Not terribly creative but I could still go by Nessie, which I preferred, and say that it was a nickname for Vanessa.

My Aunt Alice insisted I bring everything I owned and my mother assured me that she would hide what I didn't want to bring so that she wouldn't know. Carlisle and Esme bought me a new computer, which was too amazing that I couldn't even pretend to refuse such an expensive gift. Emmett and Rosalie tried to convince me to take one of the cars with me but I didn't want to. I wanted to immerse myself in campus life and walk everywhere like all of the other students. My parents gave me a beautiful box that could only be opened with a special key that I now wore around my neck at all times. The box was stuffed with bags of blood: a secret stash in case I could find time to hunt. Carlise still worked at the hospital and would send me more when I needed it.

We had to take three cars to the airport. Everyone wanted to say goodbye at the gate. They all hugged me at least twice. Carlisle, Esme, Alice, Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie, and Charlie. Rosalie held onto me the longest. She kept stroking my hair and whispering in my ear about not forgetting about her. Charlie cried but tried to pretend like he didn't. My parents hugged me together, the way they did everything else, with one arm around each other.

I waved bye to them at the gate, carrying just my purse. My luggage had been too large to carry-on. There would be a car waiting for me when I landed. I was ready. I drank in the sight of my family. No matter how much I wanted a taste of freedom, I could already feel the twinge of missing them in my gut.

My dorm room at Evergreen Academy is smaller than my closet at home. The cafeteria menu contains almost no red meat, my main diet staple. My class schedule could be called overwhelmingly stressful at best. Why did I want to attend this school so badly? Anyone? Yeah…I can't remember either.

The saving grace is my roommate, Caitlin. I've never had a lot of girlfriends, or male friends for that matter, but she makes me feel like we've known each other for lifetimes rather than a few hours. Her arm is linked with mine as she gives me a brief tour of the campus. "That's the boy's hall." She points to yet another old, brick building across the courtyard. "We're not allowed there after seven. Actually, we're not allowed anywhere after seven."

"Why not?"

"Curfew." She begins a count off on her perfectly manicured fingers. "In dorm building by seven sharp, lights out at ten sharp, no booze or drugs ever." She laughs a bit manically. "That last one is pretty easily broken."

I have learned that Caitlin likes to speak in lists. "Can we ever leave campus?"

"Only in life or death situations." She didn't sound like she was kidding. We arrived at the on campus market and she held out her arms like she was showing me the Holy Grail. "This is the most sacred place on campus. This will be your saving grace for every all-night study session, your finals week oasis, and your get-over-that-stupid-boy haven."

I nodded respectfully. "It's beautiful."

"It's the Garden of Eden." She grabbed a basket and pulled me toward the nearest aisle. We perused for a while, picking up all the necessities that a teenager might require, including but not limited to Cheezits, Twizlers, Pringles, Tater Tots, Pizza Bites, Mozerella Sticks, and Fritos.

"How are we going to cook this stuff in the dorm room?"

"There's a toaster oven in the game room."

"We have a game room?"

She laughed and grabbed yet another case of diet coke. "Don't get overly excited. It is equipped with a ping pong table that is missing the net and an old two by four that's supposed to be used for limbo and a small assortment of puzzles." She picked up a pack of double stuff Oreos and shoved them in my face. "Have you ever tried Oreos with Nutella?"

"No and I'm sorry but I have to ask: why don't you weigh three hundred pounds?"

She laughed again and flipped her thick auburn hair over her shoulder. "Everyone eats everyone else's stuff. You can try to hide your goodies but there is no fail-safe hiding place. If there is food in the dorm, someone will find it and eat without asking questions."

"That doesn't seem right."

"You're so naive. I keep forgetting that you've been in public school your whole life." She gripped my arm and turned me so that we were staring dead into each other's eyes. "Private boarding school is basically a year-long sleepover. Have you ever been to sleep-away summer camp?"

"Uh…no."

She sighed, bemoaning me as a hopeless case. "I have so much to teach you."

We proceeded to the checkout line and started unloading the cart that was filled to the brim. "Our first shopping excursion is on me." She gave her meal plan card to the cashier.

"Thanks, that's sweet."

"Anything for my new charity case."

"I have another question."

"Shoot. I have no secrets."

"Why didn't you have a roommate this year?" For the first time since we were introduced, she got quiet. After a few seconds, the air was terribly awkward. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry. It's just that you're awesome. I thought lots of people would want to room with you."

"It's okay. Everyone else knows the story so I haven't had to say it out loud yet." The cashier bagged up the last of our items and handed the meal plan card and a receipt back to Caitlin. She started slinging the bags onto her arms. "I'll tell you on the way home."

We had walked halfway across campus before she started talking. "I was living off-campus with my boyfriend last year. He was going to the local community college. He was older. I'm very scandalous." She wiggled her eyebrows at me. "One night, he went to a party with some old friends from high school and got really wasted. They went out into the woods. Started climbing trees and doing back flips off of branches."

"Oh my God."

"Yeah. He landed wrong. Broke his neck. Died within minutes, I was told."

"I'm so sorry, Caitlin."

"I was supposed to go to the party but I had a test the next day and I decided to stay home, be a good girl." She wiped at her eyes. Mascara smeared across her cheek. "I should've been there."

I really didn't know what to say. "It wasn't your fault."

"That's what three out of my four therapists told me."

"No kidding."

"Yeah. The last one told me that I shouldn't have been in such a co-dependent relationship."

"I hope you didn't pay a lot for him."

"Trust me. I had one and only one session with him before I decided he needed therapy more than I did."

"What was his name?" I asked.

"The therapist?"

I laughed. "Not who I meant."

"Aaron." She pulled out her phone and showed me a picture of him. He looked like the hunky all-American type guys you found in Abercrombie and Fitch ads.

"Cute."

"Yeah." She stared at the phone until we reached the dorm. "He was the one."

"He was?"

"I'm certain of it. If he wasn't, no one is."

I just nodded, having no advice to offer her on the business of lost love.

I opened the door to our room and we both dropped our bags on the floor just inside. "Thank goodness we're on the first floor," she said.

We unpacked and stuffed our goodies under our beds and stacked the sodas into a teeny fridge that Caitlin's parents had bought for her. She popped a Diet Coke and plopped down on her bed. "Let me see your schedule." I retrieved it from the one small desk we would be sharing and handed it to her. She barely glanced at it before letting out a cheerful whoop.

"You're very excited about that heavy class load."

"You got Professor Black for Early American History."

"And that's a good thing?"

She reached under her bed and scrounged around for a few minutes before emerging with an old yearbook. She flipped the pages for a few minutes and then held it out to me. "Take a look at that and you tell me if it's a good thing."

I looked down at the page full of faculty photographs and found Professor Black in an instant. It might have been because of his huge smile and white glossy teeth or his tanned beautiful skin and his soulful dark brown eyes. Or it might have been because Caitlin had drawn a huge red circle around his picture and labeled it Professor Hot Stuff.

"Wow." It was all I could say.

"Seriously."

"He's-"

"Yes, he is."

I held the picture closer to my face. "He looks so young."

"He's only 30."

"And he teaches here?" Evergreen Academy was known for it's first-rate education and you couldn't teach here unless you had a Masters.

"He doubled up his class load while he was in college so he could graduate early."

"That's impressive."

"Everything about him is impressive. That little picture doesn't even do him justice." She took the book back from me and looked longingly at the page. "You'll see tomorrow."

"How do you know so much about him?"

She closed the book. "Aaron was his assistant."

She got up and started getting ready for bed before I could offer her another lame apology.


	2. Chapter 2

Caitlin and I were heading to the dining hall for breakfast the next morning when two girls ran up. After quite a lot of squealing and hugging, Caitlin introduced us.

"Girls, meet my favorite new roommate, Nessie. This is Selena and Abbey."

"Hi, it's nice to meet you."

"You, too!" Abbey slipped her hand into the crook of my elbow and we all started walking again. Despite the matching uniforms we were all wearing, these girls stood out. Selena was wearing an array of necklaces that were so long they reached the middle of her skirt. She had a flowery scarf tied up in her wild black hair and her nails were painted dark purple with a tiny skull and bones on the thumbnail. Abbey looked perfect, like a doll. She wore a checkered headband in her perfect blonde locks and pearl earrings. She was so polished that if I didn't know better, I'd think she was a vampire. "Finally! It's about time we got some new blood around here," Abbey said.

My stomach growled when she said the B word. I had had a few sips from my emergency blood bag this morning while Caitlin was in the shower but it wasn't enough to slate my thirst. I could only hope that my human breakfast would tide me over until I could sneak away and hunt.

Caitlin stepped up to walk beside me. "We've all gone to school together since first grade so getting a new student is pretty exciting."

"And impressive," Selena said. "It's really hard to get in if you didn't start in elementary school." She peeked her head between us and grinned at me. "Did you bribe someone?"

Before I could answer, Abbey shooed her away. "Ignore her. She thinks she's funny." Selena slunk back behind us but she didn't seem upset. She was staring around, as if she'd never been here before. I had a feeling that if these girls went to any other school, they wouldn't be friends. They had that chemistry that suggested they'd been together for too long to try anything else.

The dining hall was remarkably similar to the four other high school cafeterias I'd eaten in in my life except for the gigantic stone fireplace at the front of the room. I followed my new found friends to the line of students holding plastic trays while waiting for their turn to be served breakfast. Caitlin handed me one with a plate and a fork. "The hash brown casserole is a culinary masterpiece of breakfast food. The eggs aren't eggs at all but egg-like substance that come in a carton and the pancakes are made with barley wheat."

I dropped the spoonful of eggs I was about to place on my plate back into the large warming tray and instead hefted a massive serving of hash brown casserole onto my plate. I took about ten pieces of bacon and six sausage links and tried to strategically cover them with the casserole. I didn't want anyone to see how much I consumed on a daily basis. It wasn't normal. There had been a rumor about me suffering from bulimia at my last school because someone had observed how much I ate and how much weight I never gained. I had been warned repeatedly by my whole family about being careful of what and how much I ate in front of others.

Once our trays were piled high with food, we made a beeline to a table in the corner. There were three boys sitting there when we approached and they stood up when they saw us coming.

They all took turns hugging Caitlin. I could tell that she was getting emotional and I had a feeling these boys were Aaron's friends. Abbey and Selena exchanged more platonic greetings with the guys and then dutifully sat down as Caitlin was ushered around between all of them. When she pulled away from the last guy, she sniffed and wiped her face before turning to me. "Boys, I have someone I want you to meet."

They all looked at me and the combined force of their stares almost sent me reeling backward. I had never gotten so much attention from the opposite sex at the same time before.

"New girl," said the boy that still had his arm around Caitlin.

"Her name is Nessie," Caitlin said.

"Really?"

"It's short for Vanessa," I explained.

"I'm Carter." The boy with his arm around Caitlin turned to the rest of the table and pointed out his friends to me. "This is Will and Marshall."

"Hi guys," I said with a little wave.

"Hey new girl," Will said. He gestured to the chair on the opposite side of the table from him. "Take a seat."

"Alright." I sat down. Will watched my every move. His eyes roved over my body although what he was admiring, I couldn't be sure. The uniform was not form fitting. I could see Abbey and Selena watching the exchange closely. I suddenly felt like I was at court to be judged by the king.

"Where are you from?"

_Forks, Washington. _"Canada."

"Why did you come here?"

_To get away from my vampire parents._ "The academics."

"Did your parents send you away?"

_I sent myself_. "No."

"Did you do something wrong?"

_For a half-human, half-vampire, I am boring. "_No."

"What are you going to study?"

_Mind your own fucking business. _"Music, literature, maybe art history."

"Are you single?"

"Are you?"

I was definitely being interviewed. After just a few minutes with these kids, I could tell that I was at the popular table. People were watching us, wondering who I was and how I had garnered a seat there. I couldn't hear their whispers but the inflections were loud and clear: How did she climb so high so fast?

At one point during the relentless litany of questions peppered at me, Caitlin nudged me on the arm. She winked at me and then looked at Will and rolled her eyes. Immediately, the questions stopped. He smirked at her before leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms. If he was the King here, Caitlin was Queen.

Will lifted his juice glass and everyone else but Caitlin raised their glasses. "To New Girl," he toasted.

"May she be well received," Caitlin said. Will shot her some nasty side-eye and a silent battle of power commenced. Slowly, staring him down, she tipped her glass to her lips and drained the whole thing without clinking it to his glass. "Let's go, Nessie." She strode purposefully from the room while the rest of our tablemates watched in shock.

I grabbed a biscuit off my plate and scurried to catch up to her, not wanting to be left alone one minute at the table with Will and his minions. I grabbed her arm when I reached her. "What the fuck was that?"

"I hate him."

"Yeah, I don't blame you but could you elaborate?"

"He's just so….argh!" she screamed. "He thinks he owns this place because his daddy donates a ton of money and he's captain of the lacrosse team and he's just always been so smug and irritating."

"I think you put him in his place when you refused the toast."

"I wish it were that easy. He'll be the same arrogant bastard by lunch, trust me." We walked toward the main building, a beautiful brick structure that had real ivy growing on the sides. The courtyard was dusted with fallen leaves that crunched beneath our shoes. There were a few people milling around in the courtyard and they were all watching Caitlin and I as we walked together.

"So…are you the most popular girl in school?"

"No," Caitlin sighed. "Just the most tragic."

"Because of Aaron?" I asked, gently.

She nodded. "Will was his best friend."

"What?"

"And he's my ex step-brother."

"Shut up!"

She shook her head and chuckled. "The divorce was finalized over the summer." She gave me a look. "My life is a soap opera."

"I'm sorry. Or should I say congratulations."

"My mom isn't as devastated as she was when her second marriage fell apart so I guess we could call this a win. Big settlement and she got the Hamptons house."

"Good for her."

Caitlin laughed again but this time it was bitter and cold. "Yes, she does set quite a shinning example for me to emulate." I must've looked horrified. She waved her hand, as if to brush it off. "Forget it. I use sarcasm to cover open wounds."

"Which therapist told you that?" I asked.

"The first one," she chuckled. "Welcome to the disturbed lives of privileged youth."

She pushed open the door of the classroom building and let me walk through first. I followed her down a hallway and to the door of our first class, which happened to be Early American History with Professor Hot Stuff. Caitlin stopped outside the door and grabbed my hand. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah, let's go."

"Whoa, don't be so hasty. You need to prepare for this moment. Fix your hair and freshen your lip gloss because you are about to enter into the presence of the most divinely beautiful creature ever crafted by God's hands."

"David Beckham's in this class?"

"No and I can guarantee that after one glance at Professor Black, David is going to look like that gremlin thing from the Goonies in comparison."

"Poor David," I fake pouted.

We walked in just as the bell was ringing. Students were shuffling around, taking their seats and opening their textbooks and laptops. The sound of shuffling papers and smell of old textbooks washed over me. I loved it. There's something about the beginning of school. The dreaded and expectant excitement. The possibility to reinvent oneself. I felt at peace. After the disaster known as breakfast, this was familiar. I was smart. This was a classroom. I belonged here.

I followed Caitlin to the front of the room. "Professor Black?"

His back was to us. "I'll be with you in a moment."

Caitlin looked a little disappointed but she pressed on. "But, you have a new student."

He sighed and dropped the papers he'd been sifting through. I held out my hand as he turned around and smiled. "Hi, I'm Nessie."

He didn't take my hand. I dropped mine. He didn't say Hello or Welcome or anything. His mouth was opened just enough to make me think he might speak but he didn't. He just looked at me and then he kept looking at me until it was so awkward that I had to look away. My face was flushed. Despite the situation, it was impossible not to notice how attractive he was. He was tall and muscular, with skin the color of creamed coffee and eyes as dark as midnight. Those eyes engulfed me. I could have drowned in them. I glanced at Caitlin. She shrugged and then waved her hand in front of the professor's face. "Are you okay?"

He finally blinked and shifted his focus to her. "I'm fine. Thank you." His voice sounded rough, like sandpaper rubbing on concrete. "Embry," he said over his shoulder. A friendly looking guy came over to us. He inclined his head to the professor. "I need to make a quick call. Please start going over the syllabus and I will return in a moment." He looked at me again and our eyes connected like magnets. "Also, please find Nessie a seat."

"Sure boss." The guy smiled and handed us each a packet of papers. Then he glanced anxiously at the professor again. "You okay, Jake?"

He was loosening his tie. "Make sure they get the _imprinted_ version." Embry's eyes widened to the size of globes. His head swiveled back and forth from the professor to me for a few seconds, like he was watching an exciting tennis match. "Okay."

The professor nodded and fled from the room.

"Did he mean printed?" Caitlin asked.

"As opposed to not printed?" I countered.

"Don't worry. You girls have the right one. Why don't you take a seat and we'll get started." Embry faced the class and called us all to order.

Once we got to our seats, I whispered to Caitlin. "Okay, he might be insanely gorgeous but I bet David Beckham is nicer."

"That was the weirdest thing I've ever seen."

"Is he always like that?" I asked.

"No, he's always super nice. He's the kind of teacher that remembers what you were doing over summer vacation and asks you about it."

"So he doesn't eye grope every female student that walks through his door?

"Oh my God! He was totally eye grouping you!"

"Caitlin!"

"No, I promise. He's the epitome of nice and normal. He's brilliant and he always wins teacher of the year and everyone loves him." Her eyes went back to the front of the classroom, where the professor had just reappeared. He was chugging down a water bottle. "Maybe he's just having an off day."


	3. Chapter 3

Jake's POV:

I wanted to pounce on her.

So I fled.

I don't remember pulling out my cell phone. Everything around me looked hazy, out-of-focus. Seth's voice was in my ear, asking me what was wrong, if I needed him. I sank to my knees in the empty hallway, pressed my head to the concrete wall. There were tears in my eyes. From joy or despair, I couldn't tell you.

"I imprinted."

Silence then Seth's delighted cheers filled my rattled brain. "Finally! Congrats, buddy, that's awesome!"

"She's a student."

More silence. "Shit, okay, that's not ideal but…"

"I have a girlfriend."

Seth hissed. "Again, not ideal but…"

"She looks just like her."

"Your girlfriend?"

"Bella." Her name was barely a sound from my lips but somehow Seth heard me.

"Well, that's not totally strange."

"It's fucking weird!"

"No, it's…" He took a deep breath. Whatever he was about to say, I wouldn't like. "You have a type. Bella was your type so now this new girl, your freaking soul mate, looks like Bella, which means she's your type…too. It's almost scientific."

"They both have brown eyes."

"Lots of people have brown eyes, Jake."

"But hers have gold…and they're deep. I never got how eyes could be deep before but I get it now."

"Dude, where are you?"

"Her voice."

"You're…in her voice?"

"Sounded like angels…bells."

"Are you going to speak in broken prose all the time now?"

I stood up. Yanked at my hair. "What do I do?"

"Just get a grip. Get some water and try to calm down."

"She's in my class right now!"

"Okay, good. You know what to expect. Just get through the next hour and then when you come home tonight, we'll figure something out."

I was nodding as he spoke.

"Jake?"

"I'm nodding." I went over to the vending machine while Seth babbled in my ear about keeping cool and how I deserved to be happy after so long and how everything would work out as long as I didn't pounce on her. I bought a bottle of water and held the cool plastic against my cheek.

"Jake?"

"What?"

"What's her name?"

"Nessie." I said it like a prayer.

"Really?"

"Yeah." I said, defensively.

"Pretty." He was a bad liar.

"I'll see you tonight." I hung up and stalked back into the classroom. My eyes strained to search the faces of those sitting in the lecture hall but I kept focusing on my feet. Embry came up to me and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

"I need you to teach the class." I was becoming dizzy and hot again. She was close and something inside of me clawed against my skin, trying to get to her.

"You imprinted on that girl?"

"Yes which is why I need you to teach the class." I was hunched over, holding onto him for support.

"Are you sure, because I've been bullshitting them for the last twenty minutes."

"Embry, doesn't she look like Bella…but beautifuller?"

He rolled his eyes. "I'm teaching the class," he said.

"You're teaching the class," I agreed.

He nodded and turned back to the chalkboard. His words were lost to me as I scanned the students for her face. When our eyes met once again, hers were a tad frightened. I tried to look away but, I swear, I couldn't. It was as if some monumental cosmic force had positioned my face so that I could look at hers. She stared back and I knew that she couldn't move either. The force of the imprint surged between us. If you have ever lain on hot concrete, you might understand how I felt at the moment, like I was being scorched from the inside out.

Eventually, she turned away to stare at her laptop. I saw her whisper something to Caitlin but even with my advanced hearing, I couldn't make it out.

I should've felt ecstatic but I was closer to puking. I had honestly thought I'd imprinted on Bella, which is why I'd run from Forks, before her wedding. Seeing this girl, that resembled Bella in so many ways, unnerved me. Why now? Why here? My pack, our lives were finally settled and I was happy. I'd had a girlfriend for a few months. I knew she wasn't my imprint but she was a comfort that I felt like I deserved. No one likes to be alone.

But now…here she was. Unwelcome into my life in the most awkward way possible. My imprint. I knew nothing about her except for her name and that made me resent imprinting all over again. Stupid fucking wolf magic. I didn't want to be hopelessly in love with someone I didn't know, someone I had just met. I wanted some self-control over my own life.

I didn't move when the end of class bell rang. I watched her pack up and walk down the steps with Caitlin. The air smelled sweeter as she passed.

Embry clasped me on the shoulder. "Why don't you go home? I can cover your classes for the rest of the day."

"I will as soon as I regain the ability to walk."

He chuckled as he slid a chair over and sat down in front of me. "You're worse than Quil was and his imprint was three years old."

I glared at him. "I have a real ethical dilemma to deal with here. She's my student. What the hell am I going to do about that? And what about Jess? My girlfriend, the one you all encouraged me to get."

"Calm down, man. These things will work out. It's all part of the-"

"Magic. Yeah, I know." I bowed my head. "I was really starting to like my life."

"I know this seems like the worse thing in the world right now but just wait."

"Wait? For what?"

"For…her."

"What would you know about it?"

He sat back and pretended to be offended. "I'm a romantic. I believe in the wonders of true love."

"Such a pussy."

"You're about to become the biggest pussy-whipped bastard in the world. I'd cool it on the snarky comments." He grabbed my arm and pulled me up. "Run home. Burn off some steam."

"Alright. Thanks, man."

I walked to the edge of campus and into the woods. I stripped down and changed into my wolf form. As I started to run toward home, the voices of my pack flooded my brain with questions, Leah the loudest of them all. Her joy was contagious. The rest of the pack was glowing with happiness for me, their Alpha, and for the first time since I'd seen Nessie, I started to feel a wave of relief.

She was real.

After dinner, Seth, Leah, Embry and I had a strategy session. I sent the younger wolves out to check the perimeter around the school. This was a discussion for my main guys and girl. They all had a plan for my love life. Embry wanted me to tell Nessie the next day in class. Seth advised me to get to know her so that I could earn her trust before springing the soul-mate revelation on her.

Leah's was the best and least desirable option: to wait until she was out of my class and then get to know her and earn her trust.

"I don't think I can wait a year." My stomach turned to lead at the thought. As it was, I was itching to race back to campus and sleep outside her dorm.

"If you don't and you get caught, you'll lose your job."

"There are other jobs." Seth said.

"Yes, but if Jacob got fired for having an inappropriate relationship with a student, no other school would hire him. The community would turn on him. We'd have to leave town."

"Where do you come up with this shit?" Embry asked her.

"I watch a lot of Lifetime movies."

I shook my head. "I can't do it. I can't not be with her. I already feel like I'm going crazy." I couldn't stop shaking, my legs, my head, my hands. I had that terrible creepy crawly feeling that you get when you foot is asleep all over my body.

"Jake, you have to." She gripped my hand, pleading. "If this goes bad, it won't affect just you."

"I know that."

"This is our home now. It would be like having to leave La Push again."

"You're right." I squeezed her hand. "I despise how you're always right."

"You should be used to it by now." She smirked. "You have one more problem to think about."

A knock sounded at the door. I could smell Jess, my girlfriend of three months, waiting for me outside. I'd forgotten that we had plans. I checked my watch and saw that I was over an hour late to meet her.

"Speak of the devil," Seth whispered.

"Be nice." I went to get the door while Seth grumbled behind me. While everyone else was pretty supportive of me having a relationship with Jess, he openly despised it. I met her at a wild party off-campus. She was young and crazy but fun. Seth couldn't understand why I'd want to spend time with someone who wasn't my imprint. He was still a kid and a virgin. He'd get it some day but I damn sure wasn't going to try and explain it to him.

I opened the door to a very angry girl. "Hey babe."

She glared at me and shoved her watch under my nose. "Did you forget about me?"

_Completely. _"Of course not!" I walked out and shut the door behind me. "I got sick earlier and had to leave school. I just passed out when I got home and forgot to call you."

"You got sick? You're never sick."

"Yeah, I think it was the eggs from breakfast."

"Well, it looks like you're feeling better now." She stood on her tiptoes and kissed me. It took all my strength not to turn away. "If we hurry, we could still grab a bite to eat before the movie."

"Uh, well…I don't know it that's the best idea."

That was the wrong thing to say. She launched into a spiel about how I didn't appreciate her (_definitely true_), how she would get any guy she wanted (_probably true_) and how I better shape up if I expected her to stick around (_actually…_).

"Actually, since you brought it up."

"What?"

"I've been thinking that maybe we should see other people."

Her mouth dropped open. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"I've been thinking about it for a while and I just don't see this lasting long term."

"How long have you felt this way?"

_Since the start. _"About a week."

"And you kept me around for what? Because I'm a good fuck?"

"Damn!" Leah said from inside the house. I could just picture them all, pressed up against the door, eavesdropping.

"No, that's not it at all." I assured her.

"Are you saying I'm bad in bed?"

"No, of course not. I'm trying to say that I wasn't just using you for sex."

"Well, then you need to work on your communication skills."

I immediately thought of Nessie and the awkward silence. "You're right about that." I reached for her hand but she snatched it away and crossed her arms. "I really am sorry. I never meant to hurt you."

"I can't believe this."

"I don't know what else I can say."

"No, I mean, I really don't understand." Her eyes narrowed as she scrutinized me closely. "There's someone else."

I just started laughing. Hysterically. "That's preposterous."

"Wow, you are such a dick." She turned on her heel and started stalking away.

"Jess, I'm sorry!" I called after her.

She flipped me off over her shoulder then disappeared between the trees.


	4. Chapter 4

Hi there! Just wanted to take a quick second and say thank you for reading my little story. I haven't written fanfiction in a long time and I've been having so much fun getting back into it. I love reviews so please don't be shy with comments!

And of course, I don't own Twilight. L

Nessie's POV:

By dinner, I was twitching worse than a drug addict jonesing for a fix.

The collective pulse of all the students in the dining hall beat against my skull. I could hear the blood running through their veins, coursing, pulsing rivers. My throat was scorching, dry, hot dust. We didn't go back to the dorm before dinner, like I had assumed we would. I hadn't had any blood since this morning and if I didn't get some soon, I was going to slaughter one of my fellow students.

I pushed the lumpy turkey potpie around my plate and bit down on my tongue until I drew blood. I didn't usually get bad cravings. It must've been the new surroundings and people that had my body running on overdrive. Plus I had a pervy professor who spent his entire class undressing me with his eyes. Everything just had me on edge.

"Hey, you okay?"

I had to close my eyes tight before I could look at my roommate. Caitlin was so close to me. I could've had my fangs in her neck and her blood on my tongue in less that a second. My eyes focused on the pulse point in her throat. I felt myself swallow. I licked my lips.

I finally made it to her face. She was starting to look wary. She leaned slightly away from me.

"I'm going to go for a walk." I stood up on shaky legs and had to grab onto the back of my chair as the room swam around me. Red tinged the edges of my vision. I'd never felt bloodlust so acutely before.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just need some fresh air."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

I shook my head as I turned away. I couldn't say another word. I couldn't open my mouth. I clamped my teeth together and held my nose, desperate to keep the aroma of human blood from my senses.

I raced through the blessedly deserted campus. Everyone was eating dinner. I headed for the woods instead of my dorm room. Right now, I was sure that hunting would be better than just drinking. I had some crazy pent up energy that I needed to burn off. The cool night air was helping my head clear. I entered the edge of the forest and started racing. It felt good to run, to use my body and let the natural hunter instincts run rampant.

I found a deer after only a few minutes. I stalked it through the trees, quiet as a mouse, until it stopped at a small stream to drink some water. If I hadn't been so drunk with bloodlust, I'd have left the poor thing be. It really was beautiful but my thirst won out.

I climbed the tree closest to the deer and jumped onto its back from above. It struggled but I was much too strong for it. I latched onto the long column of its neck and let the warm gush of blood fill my mouth. I closed my eyes in pure satiated bliss for two seconds before flying back. My back collided with a tree and I fell to the forest floor, gagging and coughing. The taste in my mouth was death. I frantically spat the blood from my mouth as my vision blurred and dimmed. My ears were ringing and I could barely make out the sounds of someone near by before my world turned black and I collapsed face first on the dirt.

I jolted awake in an unfamiliar bed, clenching my head, moaning in agony as the debilitating pain hit me full force. I barely made it to the toilet in the adjacent bathroom before emptying my stomach. My knees shook as I leaned into the sink, funneling handfuls of water into my dry mouth until I could no longer taste the acrid blood from the deer.

The mirror reflected a version of myself I'd never seen before. I looked haggard, like faded, worn leather. My clothes were caked with dirt and blood. I turned away quickly, disgusted with myself. I'd been away from home for less than seventy-two hours and I was already failing at independence.

My vision was still blurry as I stumbled back into the bedroom. I plopped down on the side of the bed and tried to get my bearings. Slowly, the night's events came back to me. I surveyed my surroundings, a spike of fear shooting through me as I realized that I had no idea where I was, who had brought me here or how long ago I'd left campus. The room had one window that I definitely wouldn't fit through. Reluctantly, I went to the door and pressed my ear against the wood. There was a faint buzzing in my head but I could make out voices on the other side of the door. There were at least four people out there and they sounded mostly male.

I shook my head, hoping the fog would abate so that I could get out of here unscathed. I was stronger than any human but I knew better than to think I could take on four or more men and come out on top, especially since I hadn't fed. However, I knew I could outrun them.

I cracked open the door just enough to get my fingers around the edge. The front door was a straight shot through the living room. If it wasn't locked, I'd open it and be gone before anyone could try and stop me. If it was locked, hopefully I'd be strong enough to wrench it off its hinges. I backed up to the end of the bedroom and bent my knees, ready to spring off. I sprinted forward, threw the door open and was just passed the threshold when-

"Whoa! Slow down!"

Strong arms locked around me and I started thrashing around like a wildcat. "Get off me!" I screamed, scratching at the arms that banded around me so tightly my ribs hurt.

"Calm down! It's okay. You're okay!"

"Says my kidnapper!" I kicked my legs out, trying to throw my captor off balance but his grip only constricted me further.

"You're not kidnapped. We found you in the woods."

"And brought me back to your rape house!" I continued to twist around in his arms but my strength was running thin fast. There were two other guys and a girl standing there, watching my drama unfold.

"What's a rape house?" one of the guys asked.

I froze. I knew that voice. When I fixed my gaze on him, I recognized the guy from Professor Hot Stuff's class. "Embry?"

He smiled hugely, like he was greeting an old friend. "Hey, Nessie. How you doin'?"

"Been better." The guy holding me had the nerve to laugh and he loosened his hold a bit. I breathed in gratefully.

"Sorry for the grip." I closed my eyes. I recognized that voice too. I turned around slowly to look up into the face of Professor Hot Stuff himself. "You're stronger than you look."

He said it teasingly but looked at me with suspicion. Still, those eyes drank me in, swallowed me whole and I latched onto them, feeling a surge of pure energy spark between us. My knees shook. I needed blood and the professor smelled shockingly good. Too good. A million times better than any human I'd ever been near.

I stepped back further and he let me go but it was quite clear from the tension from all of them that they weren't going to let me leave. At least not easily.

"I should probably get back to campus." I inched toward the front door and Embry stepped in front of it.

"Don't worry." The professor said. "I called your dorm mother and told her you were staying in the clinic overnight. She informed your roommate."

"Why would you do that?"

He smiled and though I didn't know him at all, I could tell that it was false. "You're a new student. I didn't want you to get in trouble for being off campus, after hours, on your first night. You could get in serious trouble for that."

"Off-campus?"

"I found you in the woods." I turned to look at the girl. She nodded and smiled gently. "You were passed out."

"And you brought me here." I didn't mean for it to sound as disdainful as it did. The place was old and had the style of my grandfather's house. There were fish and deer heads mounted on the walls and terrible shag carpet and old cracked leather armchairs. There were beer cans everywhere and an overwhelming smell of smoke. The only thing new in the place was the gigantic television and the assortment of game consoles littered under it.

"Well," said the professor. I looked back at him. He was settling himself into one of the chairs. "She called me and we brought you back here." He picked up a beer bottle and indicated the chair next to him. "Have a seat."

It wasn't a suggestion. The quality of his voice told me that I'd be sitting in that chair whether I wanted to or not. I walked slowly, hoping they couldn't tell how jittery I was.

"Do you want something to drink?" the girl asked me.

The way she said 'drink' made me anxious. Their collective stares chilled me to the bone. "Water would be nice."

She smiled then and I knew that she knew something. Suddenly, some deep inherent instinct told me to be terrified. "Coming right up." As she left, the two guys sat down on the floor, blocking the only exit I could see. She came back and handed me a cool glass of water filled to the brim then sat down beside the guys. I began to gulp it down.

"So, what are you?"

I choked and spluttered, water dribbling over my chin and onto my lap.

"Excuse me?"

"What are you?" the professor repeated calmly.

"Don't you mean who?"

"No. I mean what are you?"

I was thrown for a moment. Humans don't ask questions like that. "A girl?"

"Try again," he whispered and his voice was strained.

"Your student."

He shook his head. "One more guess."

He waited patiently for the answer he already knew. She must've seen me with the deer. They must've figured out what I was, or at least part of it, while I was passed out. But that didn't explain why they weren't freaking out. Humans reject the unknown. These guys were threatening it.

It could only mean one thing.

"You first."

He blinked. He sat back. Then he turned to his cohorts for help. When they said nothing, I figured I'd give him a break.

"The way you asked that question implied that you don't think I'm normal…or, more specifically, human. But that's impossible, right?"

He glared at me, knowing where I was going with this. It was my turn to lean forward. "The only way you can ask that question without being crazy is if you're not human either."

When he smiled at me this time, it was real. "If I'm not human, what am I?"

The answer was so obvious, I wanted to kick myself for not knowing it the instant he touched me.

_Fuck my fucking life._

"You're a werewolf."


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks to everyone who has read this and reviewed. It just makes my day to get reviews. I'm loving this story. I have a clear vision for it and I want to get chapters out faster but I also want them to be great so I don't post unless I feel like the chapter is as good as it can be. So please be patient with me.

Also, I still don't own Twilight. In case any of you were wondering.

Chapter 5

Jake's POV:

"You're a werewolf."

"Yup."

And I was drunk.

That's the only excuse I have for telling Nessie the truth so easily. After Leah carried her into our house and put her in my freaking bed, I got a little antsy, like sniffing around the door, crawling the walls, having to be held back by my wolf brothers antsy. So Seth got me wasted, hoping it would calm me down. It was a gamble. Wolves don't get drunk easily, it takes a lot of liquor, and we weren't sure how I'd act around my new imprint while intoxicated but Seth was right. I was totally relaxed and so was my brain filter.

Nessie looked around at all of us. "You're all werewolves."

I shrugged. "Sorry."

"Shit-fuck!" she screamed so suddenly that Seth actually jumped.

"Easy there." I held up my hands. "We're not going to hurt you."

"This is just so ridiculous. I finally get out of Forks and away from all the weird supernatural bullshit that comes along with my life and after exactly one day at school, I get kidnapped by a band of werewolves!"

"Pack," Embry muttered.

She rounded on him with murderous eyes. "What?"

"We're a pack not a band," Embry explained.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to offend my kidnappers."

"We didn't kidnap you," Seth said, indignantly.

"Alright, then let me leave."

"Did you say Forks?" I asked suddenly. Everyone turned to look at me.

"Umm…." Nessie hedged.

"When you were ranting earlier, did you say that you were from Forks?" My heart was pounding and I could feel sweat beading on my neck. _Please say no, please say no, please say no…._

She eyed me skeptically. "What difference does it make?"

"Just answer the question, please."

She blew out a huge breath and ran a hand through her hair. "Yes, I'm from Forks but the school thinks I'm from Canada so you can't tell anyone."

"Forks, Washington?" I had to be sure.

She raised her eyebrows. "You've heard of it?"

"Oh my God," Leah said.

"It can't be," Embry said.

"Unbelievable," Seth said.

"You never answered my first question." I leaned down low so I could look her dead in the eye. She actually scooted back an inch. An Alpha's stare can be overwhelming if you're not used to it. "What are you?"

She swallowed and glanced around at the others nervously. "You said before that you wouldn't hurt me. That still true?"

"Yes."

She held her pinky out to me. "Promise?"

I smirked and hooked her pinky with mine. "You can trust me."

She tipped her head back to my pack. "Do they promise, too?"

I smiled, hoping to put her at ease. "Yes, but even if they didn't, I wouldn't let anyone hurt you."

She regarded me for a moment then smiled softly and nodded. "I'm half-human…half-vampire," she whispered.

I smiled tightly. "Could you explain that a little bit?"

"My mom is human…or was human when she had me and my dad is a vampire."

Leah inhaled sharply. Seth and Embry just looked dumbfounded.

Nessie looked a little uncomfortable. "I'm somewhat rare."

"Understatement of the year," Seth mumbled.

I tugged her hand to bring her attention back to me. "Your mom, she's not human anymore?"

"She's a vampire now." Her eyes went wide. "They're not bad vampires, like they don't feed on people. Just animals. I don't drink human blood either, I swear!"

"Relax, we're not going to hurt you or your parents." I squeezed her hand and sat back. I chugged down the rest of my beer. "Seth, do we have anything stronger than this left?"

He jumped up, grabbed the empty can and went to the kitchen. He was back a minute later and handing me a tumbler of scotch. "Thank you." I tossed it back, welcoming the burning sensation at the back of my throat.

"Jake, are you-"

I held up a hand to silence Leah. My gaze never strayed from Nessie, who was becoming more anxious by the second. "I going to take a wild guess and say that if you lied to the school about where you're from, you probably lied about your name too."

She bit her lip. "Maybe."

"You're name isn't Vanessa Collins."

"No…but my nickname is Nessie. It's just short for Renesmee."

Embry snorted. From my peripheral vision, I saw Leah elbow him in the gut.

"That's an interesting name." I was trying not to laugh myself.

She giggled. "That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said about it."

I took a deep breath. I had one final question but I was ninety nine point nine percent sure that I already knew the answer. "What's your last name?"

"Cullen."

Hearing is said out loud was harder than I'd expected. She might as well have shoved a knife into my chest.

No one moved. No one spoke. I felt the eyes of my pack on my face. Nessie was staring at me too. No telling what my expression was.

"I need a drink," Leah finally said.

"Bring enough for two," I called.

"Three," Embry said.

"Make it four," Seth yelled.

It was a true testament to the drama of the moment that Leah didn't object to her younger brother drinking. She came back with two bottles. She handed me the Jack and kept the Patron. She took a slug then handed it off to Embry.

"Did I miss something?" Nessie asked.

I drank straight from the bottle, smacking my lips as my tongue sizzled. I let my vision blur slightly as I looked at my imprint. Seeing her all fuzzy like that, she could have been Bella.

"Excuse me for a second." I got up and went into my room. Nessie's scent, warm and sweet like brown sugar, was everywhere. I inhaled deeply. Then I grabbed my pillow, shoved it in my face, and screamed until my lungs felt shredded.

Nessie was sniffing at a small measure of Patron when I went back into the living room. "I don't think I'm going to like this."

"Probably not, but you're going to need it," Leah said.

"Why's that?" Nessie asked.

Leah looked to me, letting the decision to tell Nessie about my history with her family fall on my shoulders. I shook my head just once and whispered, "Not right now."

Leah nodded and Embry and Seth looked relieved.

"Let's get you back to campus," I said.

"Seriously, you're not going to tell me why you went cray-cray over my last name?" She frowned at me, her lips pursing out as if in a kiss. I had to snap my knees into place to keep from jumping on her. I had a feeling that look was going to cause me a lot of trouble in the future.

"I'll tell you while we walk." I held my hand out to her and when she placed her small one into mine, a pulse shot between us. I pulled her up to her full height. She looked so perfect in front of me, taller than Bella was, just the right height to kiss me. She shivered as my fingers closed around hers.

"Good luck!" Embry said, his voice full of false cheerfulness. He tipped the bottle to his lips and chugged for a second.

"Let's go," I said, pulling her toward the door.

"One second." She downed the liquor and handed the cup to Leah. "Thanks." We walked to the door, still hand in hand. I wondered if she even noticed that I hadn't let go, if she minded. She paused and turned back to my pack. "Bye, I guess."

"Oh, we'll be seeing you again. I can guarantee that," Seth said.

Nessie snorted. "If you say so."

The night was misty, blurred at the edges with a faint breeze rustling the tree branches, creating a music only nature can manage. It reminded me of La Push and the steady beat of the ocean waves against the rock face. Of life that had been easy. I squeezed Nessie's hand on instinct and I she gasped.

"Why do I trust you?"

I weighed my answer carefully. It's impossible to ignore the pull of the imprint and she had obviously picked up on something. I couldn't, I wouldn't lie to her.

"I mean," she continued after a few awkward beats of silence, "I'm holding your hand. You're my mortal enemy and yet we're holding hands but I'm not scared. How is that possible?"

"There's a reason but I'm not sure you're ready to hear it."

She accepted that with a little headshake and a huff. "This night has been very strange."

"It's about to get stranger."

The wind had shifted, blowing the stench of rancid animal carcass to us. I could already smell it but Nessie had noticed yet. It gave me some idea of what her supernatural skills were compared to mine.

We took a few more steps and she scrunched up her nose. "Oh my god, I totally forgot."

"Me too." In all the half-vampire, werewolf talk, I'd forgotten how Nessie had ended up in my house in the first place.

We stepped into a clearing and saw the deer, it's neck stained black with dried blood. I dropped her hand and walked to it. "Stay there." I didn't know why she'd had such a negative reaction to the animal's blood but I certainly wasn't going to let her get near it again. I sank to my knees and dipped my fingers into the gaping wound, dispelling the flies that were already hovering. I sniffed at the blood coating my fingers but couldn't detect anything odd. "It smells fine to me."

"Well, you're not a vampire." Before I could argue, she was by my side, crouching low next to me. "It smells rotten, like it's been dead for a million years."

I held my arm out. "That's close enough."

Nessie scoffed. "Relax professor. I already survived this deer once."

"Jake."

"Huh?"

I turned toward her, so close our noses nearly grazed. "You can call me Jake."

"Jake." My name sounded better coming off her tongue. She held my eyes and smiled. "Even in the classroom?"

I leaned in closer, and she gasped. I gulped down her breath. Did the imprint have the same effect on her body and mind as it did on mine? Did she feel as off-balance and grounded at the same time as I did? I filed those questions away, vowing to ask her all of them one day. "Maybe just in private moments like this."

She grinned again, a new kind of confidence stealing over her. "You see a lot of private moments like this in our future?"

I smiled back, inching closer, intoxicated by the heat wafting off her skin and the humid night. The planes of her face were illuminated in a warm glow from the moon. She had freckles on her nose.

"You're warm."

She nodded, her eyes fluttering as my breath ghosted over her skin. "I have some human traits. My blood is hot, my skin can flush." Without breaking eye contact with me, she ran her fingers down the inside of my forearm into my hand. She drew small circles against my palm with her fingertips. "I get goose-bumps."

Time stilled as we gazed at each other. The air sparked between us, my hands started sweating. We were both panting. "Apparently, I do too."

"Whoa." She sat back in a flash, rocking on her heels. "So what the hell is wrong with this deer?"

I jumped on her train of thought, eager to change the subject. "I've never smelled anything like it before." I held my hand out to her.

She sniffed at my fingers and shook her head. "I don't recognize the scent."

We stood there for a few seconds, stumped. "Maybe I'm allergic to it."

"Can vampires be allergic to stuff?"

She scrunched up her forehead. "I have no idea."

"We'll figure this out but until we do," I met her eyes, "stick to blood bags." She nodded with a shy smile. I reached for her hand, which she gave to me willingly. "Let's get out of here."

I led her back to campus while we traded different ideas about what might have caused her dangerous reaction to the deer's blood. By the time we reached her dorm, we still didn't have any clue.

We lingered for a moment as we said goodnight, both of us anxious about breaking our contact. "Sleep well."

"You too," she whispered. She entered the code onto the keypad and slipped inside. My chest ached when she disappeared from my view.

I hesitated for only a second when I came across the deer again. Then I hauled it over my shoulder and carried it home.


	6. Chapter 6

Nessie's POV:

My thirst came surging back as soon as I shut the door to my dorm building. I ran up the stairs as quietly as I could and slipped into my room. Caitlin was, luckily, fast asleep. I sulked across the room on my hands and knees and opened the chest that held my secret stash of blood. In less than a minute, I inhaled three bags. Finally satiated and utterly exhausted from my bizarre night, I crashed into bed and fell asleep in an instant.

It's a good thing I don't need as much sleep as a human because five seconds after I closed my eyes-

"What the fuck happened to you?"

The sun shone brilliantly through the blinds, the slanted rays of light hitting my face. I squinted my eyes against it and stared up at Caitlin.

"Food poisoning. That's what the nurse said anyway."

She frowned for a moment, hands on her hips in a disapproving pose. "I told you not to eat the eggs."

I cracked a smile, relieved that she wasn't really mad. "Henceforth, I will heed all your warnings."

"You're such a noob." She huffed before crashing into me, hugging me with all her might.

"I'm a what now?" I asked with my voice muffled by all her hair.

"A noob. You know, it means the new kid." She sat back and wiped a few tears from her cheek.

"Caitlin, why are you-"

"I'm sorry. I realize that I'm totally overreacting to whatever happened to you last night but…ever since Aaron…I cry all the freaking time. It's really annoying and it happens even when nothing is sad but I can't seem to help it." She took a deep breath to compose herself. "I'm sure it will stop someday."

She stood up in a rush and threw a shirt at my head. "Get moving. We're late."

I showered and got dressed faster than I ever had in my life, throwing on my uniform and rushing out the door behind Caitlin with my shoes untied and my shirttail hanging loosely around my plaid skirt.

We raced across campus with minutes to spare. By the time we got to the cafeteria, there was just a sad assortment of bagels left on the food line. We each grabbed one and went to our table.

Will was leaning back in his chair, keeping it steady on the back legs. His feet were propped up on the table. Selena and Abbey greeted us with relieved smiles. Marshall and Carter were equally as friendly. Will, however, regarded me with a calculated smile. "New Girl lives. Thank the Gods."

Caitlin called him a mouthy prick under her breath but only I seemed to hear her. We settled into our seats. Will surveyed me thoroughly. "You certainly bounced back quick from that food poisoning."

I met his gaze, hoping my cheeks weren't flushing. I wasn't the best liar, despite having to do it a lot. "Yeah, I guess I did."

"So," he drawled as he leaned forward and set his elbows on the table. "What do you think gave you such a bad tummy?"

"Would you leave her alone?" Caitlin snapped.

"Hey!" He held his hands up like he was surrendering. "I'm just doing some research so I can avoid whatever food had an ill-effect on her."

"Or, you could just stop eating all together," Caitlin quipped. Carter and Marshall snickered but Will silenced them with one contemptuous look.

"Stand down, princess. No reason to get up on your haughty horse to defend the newbie. It was only a question." Will looked back to me with a challenge. Caitlin seemed to deflate into her chair as she waved her hand at me, giving me permission to speak.

"My best guess is that it was those eggs…or egg-like substance."

Will smiled and it felt evil. He stalked around the table like the Big Bad Wolf until he was towering over me, which wasn't saying much since I was sitting. "Now that is interesting."

"Really, you find _that_ interesting?" I asked.

His smile grew wider until it looked like it would stretch off his face. "I do because you didn't eat any eggs yesterday." He leaned down until we were nose to nose. "Did you?"

I raised my eyebrows at him, giving myself a little time to think. It's true that I didn't eat eggs yesterday. Why hadn't I thought of a better cover story? I decided the best course of action would be to not answer his questions at all. "Why are you so obsessed with me?"

He snickered as he pulled away and I felt a sense of pride wash through me as everyone else giggled. I got him. I bested the King.

"Whatever, noob." He skulked back to his chair and hunched down with a scowl on his face but his eyes stayed trained on me. Luckily, the bell rang a few seconds later and I no longer had to endure his unwavering glare.

I opened the door to Jake's classroom and nearly walked straight into Embry. "Hey," I said brightly and I felt Caitlin's gaze fall on me. Embry shook his head once and I realized that I'd been way too friendly with my greeting.

"Good morning, ladies," Embry said, a little too overly professional. "Please take your seats. We're about to begin."

"Where's Professor Black?" I asked, my voice spiking as I realized how disappointed I was that he wasn't here.

Embry tilted his head, his eyes growing hard as he silently told me to shut up. "He's running late. Please take your seat."

"Nessie, come on." Caitlin tugged at the sleeve of my shirt until I began following her up the stairs. "Did they give you any drugs last night? You're acting loopy."

We settled into our seats and my eyes scanned the front of the room, hopelessly searching for a glimpse of Jake. "Sorry, I didn't sleep much."

"Who are you looking for?"

I let out a stuttering chuckle and Caitlin's eyes widened. "The reason for your existence. Professor Hot Stuff….remember him?"

"He's probably playing hooky after he was acting so weird yesterday."

"Yeah." It was a struggle to keep my voice steady. "Probably."

I was desperate to see him, which really freaked me out. I barely knew the guy. He was a werewolf. He'd kidnapped me, sort of, just the night before and yet I felt short of breath. I had been so sure that I'd see his face when I walked through the door of his classroom. When I didn't, it was like I'd been plunged head first into ice water, held under by crushing disappointment as my lungs struggled for breath and brain scrambled for sense.

"What's wrong with you?" Caitlin whispered some time later. I glanced at the clock and was astonished to see that class was halfway over.

I took a deep breath, trying to come up with something that would convince her I wasn't insane. I opened my mouth to respond when the door opened and Jake strolled in. I watched him with starving eyes as he walked over to his desk and sat. He leaned back, seemingly without a care in the world, his legs crossed casually at the ankles and watched as Embry continued to lecture the class. I could sense the other girls shifting around in their seats as they sneaked peeks at him.

His body overwhelmed the chair he was sitting in. The muscles in his legs strained against the fabric of his pants. His tan skin set against the stark white of his dress shirt was mesmerizing. Seeing him like that reminded me of the night before, when his arms had grasped me around the waist and pulled me against his chest. He was so strong, so tall, so handsome-

"Nessie?"

"I think I still have a fever."

"Yea," she said with a sly smile on her face. "A lust fever."

I just nodded. My brain was short-circuiting. I didn't hear a word Embry said the entire hour. I focused all my brainpower on trying to get Jake to turn around and look at me.

Caitlin had to nudge me when class was over. Everyone was filing out of the room and I was still just sitting there, staring. I shook my head a few times, trying to clear the fog his presence created between my ears.

"Maybe you should go back to our dorm room and lie down."

"I'll be fine."

She shrugged and started down the stairs. I followed, happy that I was behind her because I stumbled a few times. I couldn't keep my eyes on my feet.

I was trying to catch a glimpse of him over my shoulder as we drew closer to the door. Caitlin grabbed my arm to pull me through when he called out to me.

"Miss Collins?"

I turned around, so eager to see his face straight on. Our eyes met and he smiled for the smallest moment before regaining his composure and plastering on an appropriate teacher's expression.

"May I see you for a moment?"

"Sure." I glanced at Caitlin. "I'll see you at lunch."

"What's going on?" she asked.

I just shrugged and tugged my arm from her grasp. I heard her mutter 'whatever' as she walked toward the door.

Jacob fiddled with some papers on his desk while we waited for the room to empty. When the door finally shut behind the last student, he let out an enormous sigh before pivoting to me. He placed his hands on my upper arms, sending scalding heat deep into my skin. "Are you okay?"

I nodded, losing myself in those deep brown eyes as we gazed at each other for an immeasurable moment. Finally, Embry cleared his throat. "There's only 10 minutes between classes, guys."

"Right." Jake dropped his hands from my arms just before another student walked into the room. The guy didn't seem to notice us but Jake projected his voice loudly, almost as if he wanted him to hear us talking. "What would you think about taking private tutoring sessions with Embry? I don't want you to fall behind in this class."

"This is just the second class. You already think I need help?"

"Yes, I do." His teacher tone was back in full force and I was confused for a moment before he winked at me.

"Okay…"

"Great! You guys should exchange contact info and set up a time and place to meet."

Embry handed me a piece of paper with a phone number, a time, and the words 'our place' written hastily on it. "Okay…" I said again.

Jake smiled and nodded as I pocketed the note.

"So, that's great. You guys will meet and study and it will all be…great."

Embry smirked and leaned into Jake's shoulder, patting it briskly. "Very smooth, my man."

Jake glared at him. "Shut it." Embry chuckled as he turned away. Jake focused on me and his eyes actually grew dark as they roamed my face. "I'll see you later- or tomorrow, ya know…in class. Here, in…class."

I pitched forward so only he could hear my next words. "I want an explanation for whatever the hell is happening between us."

"What do-"

"Seriously, don't try and deny it." I fixed him with a hard look until he nodded. "I want answers, tonight."

I spent the rest of the day in a haze, my head absorbed with the anticipation of seeing Jake again. Before leaving for his house, I downed three bags of blood. I felt inexplicably drained after what was a fairly dull day besides the interaction I'd had with Jake and Embry at the end of class.

Caitlin didn't believe me when I told her where I was going after dinner. "I've never heard of Embry tutoring anyone."

"They said it's just because I'm new."

"And you're going to his apartment?"

"Is that weird?"

She snorted. "I get that you've been homeschooled since the beginning of time but haven't you ever seen Dateline?"

"You think he's serial rapist?"

"I'm just saying that you don't really know the guy."

"This whole thing was Professor Black's idea." I put my coat on and slung my backpack over my shoulder. "Do you think they team up to rape and murder their students?"

She rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Probably not. Just…be careful."

I felt bad for lying to the only real friend I'd made at this school but I didn't have another choice. "I promise and I'll text you when I get there and I won't be back late."

"Alright…"

"Thanks, mom."

"Go on, weirdo."

I garnered some pretty interesting looks from the stragglers on campus as I walked by myself to the edge of the forest that was quickly growing dark as the sun set. I already knew the path by heart (thank you half-vampire memory) and I set off at a brisk pace.

I could barely make out Jake's house through the thick trees when I heard a rustling behind me. I froze, terrified that I'd been caught breaking curfew. I didn't see anyone and after waiting a few moments I continued on my trek. I only took a few steps before I heard it again. This time when I turned, there was a girl standing there, staring at me.

"Who are you?" she asked before I could even form a coherent thought.

"Uh…I'm a student at Evergreen. I was just going for a walk. Who are you?"

"Isn't it past curfew?"

She was dressed in normal clothes, the kind a teenager would wear, so I didn't think she was a teacher or faculty member. "I have permission from one of my professors to-"

"Professor Black?" Her face flushed angrily and her eyebrows drew together.

"I'm sorry, who are you?"

She threw her head back, cackling wildly. "Why don't you ask Jake when you meet up for your little rendezvous?" She walked away, throwing her hair back over her shoulder in an angry flick.

"Wait!" I followed her a few steps but she was walking so quickly that she was already almost out of my sight. It seemed like she was floating along the forest ground. "What's your name?"

"It's Jess!" she yelled back while flicking me off.


	7. Chapter 7

So…this chapter is angsty and I'm blaming that for the reason it took me so long to write and post it. I also blame it on The 100 for taking over my life. Probably going to have to write some Bellarke stuff to get me through this hiatus….

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

Jacob's POV:

In a show of what I still consider great self-restraint, I waited an entire fifteen minutes after she was supposed to be there before barreling into the woods in search of her.

"You're creeping dangerously close to stalker status," Leah called mockingly from the doorway.

I caught Nessie's scent on the cooling afternoon air not too far from the house and followed it. The sun was almost gone from the sky. I picked up my pace, needing to find her before the forest descended into darkness. The only sounds I could hear were the leaves crunching under my feet and the critters scattering through the underbrush.

I found her on a massive rock, her legs pulled up and tucked under her chin. Her head snapped up as I approached her. "Stop." Her voice was a whisper but there was strength behind it. My initial smile at seeing her fell away as I studied her face. Her nose was bright pink and runny, her red tinged eyes sparkling. She was crying.

I held out my hands, itching to get closer to her, to comfort her. "What's wrong?"

She stood from the rock and backed away from me, holding her hand out in front of her. "Don't come any closer."

I stopped. She was shifting on her feet, like she was getting ready to run for her life. "Nessie, tell me what happened."

"Who's Jess?"

My stomach dropped. "How did you-"

"She was in the woods. She saw me and asked where I was going, but she already knew. It was like she'd been waiting for me."

"Did she hurt you?"

She rolled her eyes, huffing angrily before glaring at me. "Did the tiny human hurt the half-vampire? No."

I sighed with relief. Nessie was still staring at me, waiting for me to answer her first question. "I'm sorry about her. She's my ex-girlfriend."

She nodded and I could tell that she'd already deduced that. "I'm guessing the break-up was bad."

"Not particularly, just…recent."

"How recent?"

That question I didn't want to answer. "Can we talk about this at the house?"

"No! I'm not going anywhere with you until I get some answers," she nearly yelled, her words echoing around us.

"Alright relax." I looked down and scuffed my feet into the dirt. I didn't want to see her reaction. "We broke up a few days ago."

She stayed silent for so long that I thought she might have stormed off in that eerily silent way vampires could. I glanced up and immediately wished I hadn't. She was pissed. "You met me two days ago."

I didn't reply. I wasn't sure that I could. I had a bad suspicion about where she was going with this conversation and I wasn't going to help her get there.

"So when you say that you broke up a few days ago, do you mean two days ago?"

I held her gaze, my blood pounding behind my eyes. "I can explain."

"Answer the question."

"Yes, we broke up the day I met you but it's not what you think."

The noise she made then, half laugh, half sob, made me want to cave in on myself. "Well that's good for you 'cause I was thinking that you are a creepy son of a bitch."

"Nessie," I finally moved, aching to get her in my arms and make everything better.

"Stay away from me!"

In case you're wondering, that's basically the worst thing to hear from your imprint. I froze and I think my heart did too.

"You said there was a reason that I trust you, a reason I'm not scared of you even though I should be. What is it? Tell me the truth."

I groaned, resentment at the imprint curse raring to life inside my gut. There is no smooth way to start the 'you're my soul mate' conversation. I toyed with the idea of opening with a joke but the rising fury in her face weighed heavily on my weary heart.

"There's a…connection…between us." I licked my suddenly dry lips. Somehow, I knew that she wasn't going to take this revelation as well as Bella had so many years ago. I shut my eyes against the memory, as it burned bright and painful in my mind.

"A connection?" she asked, disdain dripping from every syllable.

I nodded miserably. I had never anticipated this conversation being easy but I had definitely imagined it going better than this. "It's called imprinting. It's how werewolves…find their soul mates."

I heard her swallow and take a deep breath. "Did you say soul mates?"

"Yes."

It was full night now, the moon lending its soft glow to the harsh landscape. The impulse of the imprint moved my head up, curious to see Nessie in moonlight again. She made a stunning vision, even as her heated glare threatened to scorch me alive. Her pale skin gleamed, almost sparkling, her dark hair shimmered, her eyes glittered in angry glory.

I fisted my hands at my sides to stop myself from snatching her up.

"Keep explaining, please."

I nodded and drew in a deep breath. "It happens instantly. One moment, you're an individual and in the next, you belong to someone. When I met you…the earth shifted and suddenly I knew my rightful place in the world. With you." Her face softened just a fraction. She must've heard the desperate truth in my words. "It's like fate or magic, the imprinting. It guides us to our perfect match."

"And you're trying to tell me that I'm your perfect match?"

I nodded, not trusting my mouth to hold in the onslaught of emotions pounding through my body.

"And you're perfect for me, too?" she asked dubiously.

I nodded again, swallowing hard.

"But you don't know anything about me."

She wasn't wrong. "I don't have to. It doesn't matter. You're my imprint."

She snorted indelicately, kicking the rocks around her feet and avoiding my hungry stare.

"You are all I think about," she mumbled.

For one confused second, I was certain that I'd spoken aloud again. Before I could consider it further, she plowed on. "Since the moment we met, even when I'm focused solely on something else, you're in my mind, underneath every thought, a constant undercurrent in my subconscious." She paused, panting heavily. "And until tonight, when I was confronted by your ex-girlfriend, it never occurred to me how completely wrong this situation is."

"I know it's weird-"

"Weird doesn't cover half of it." She threw her arms out suddenly. "I snuck out of my dorm, on thesecondday at my new school, to go traipsing through a forest so that I could see my _professor_. At night. With no supervision." She sniffed loudly and scrubbed her hand over her face. "I'm not this girl and I don't want to be this girl."

I frowned. "What are you talking about?"

She growled and jerked her head back in exasperation. "I'm not going to lose my shit because of some hot guy."

I tried not to smile. I tried really hard. "Hot, huh?"

"This isn't funny."

I looked at her somberly. "I am sorry. I know this isn't an easy thing to accept."

Her face froze, her eyes cold with dread. "I'm not accepting this."

I tilted my head, wanting to be delicate with her but my patience was starting to fray. "There's nothing you can do about it."

"I can leave this school and never see you again."

_Ouch._ "That's not an option."

"Says who?"

"Fate will find a way to bring us together, always. You think you came to this school of your own volition?"

She bit her lip, frowning hard. My frustration finally got the better of my control and I started yelling.

"Do you think I ended up being your professor by chance? Do you think that Leah found you in the woods by sheer luck? Do you think Bella and I were best friends by accident?"

"Bella?"

_Shit. _

"My mother?"

_Shit shit shit. _

"We were friends, a long time ago."

"When? How? Did you…did you live in Forks?"

I sat down on the ground, suddenly exhausted. I motioned for her to do the same but she glared and crossed her arms. "Suit yourself but it's a long fucking story." Finally, she mirrored my position from a safe distance away.

Then I began.

I had never verbally recounted my history with Bella before. It wasn't as difficult as I'd expected. I was so detached from it now. It helped that I was staring into Nessie's face, focusing on every minute detail of her expression as the complicated tale of our overlapping histories fell heavy between us.

They hadn't told her a damn thing. She gasped, managing to somehow look excited and betrayed simultaneously, when I spoke about Emmet and Rosalie, Alice and Jasper, Carlisle and Esme. She couldn't hold in a giggle when I poked fun at how stuffy and overbearing Edward was.

"Some things don't change," she whispered fondly.

When I spoke about Bella, and the depth of my feelings that she'd never truly returned, an impossible pain crumpled her face. She'd acted like she could easily walk away from me, but the imprint wouldn't allow her to feign indifference toward me.

I told her about the disastrous dance at the wedding, the last burden I subjected my tender heart to and she had to wipe a few tears from her cheek. I told her that my soul felt like it had blasted apart, into tiny shards of killer glass, when my father told me she had been successfully turned into a vampire. He didn't tell me about any baby. I had already left Forks, my pack, and my entire life behind. Only Leah and Seth and Embry had followed. He was probably trying to protect me. It was something he would do: attempt to shelter his grown-ass Alpha werewolf son from girl drama. Admittedly, I probably wouldn't have handled it well.

I began to tell her about how I rebuilt my life at Evergreen Academy but she was distracted.

"Say something."

She sniffed and wiped a hand over her face. "Why did you love my…her?"

"What do you mean?"

"If I'm you're imprint, then how were you able to have such strong feelings for someone else?"

I actually had to think about that for a second. After I'd lost Bella to Edward, I had spent most of my time actively not thinking about her and everything that had happened between us. "I guess because you didn't exist yet."

"So, if I was never born, then you would have spent the rest of your life alone, never finding love, never having someone to share your life with?"

I shrugged and shot her a wry smile. "Luckily, you do exist."

She rolled her eyes, sighing with annoyance while she raked her hands through her hair. "I hate this."

"Nessie-"

"This is why I left my home and my family. I couldn't stand being alone, surrounded by obsessive love twenty-four seven."

"Edward and Bella were pretty sickening with each other."

She stared at me, her sad gaze piercing my heart. "I never wanted to be like that. I always thought it was sick, they way they revolved around each other, like the rest of the world wasn't even happening. Now look at me."

"We wouldn't be like them."

"We'd be worse."

"No-"

"Please tell me there's some way to get rid of this?"

I sighed deep and the crisp night air burned my lungs. "There's not." I was hoping she couldn't hear the hitch in my voice but then-

"But?"

I closed my eyes, already knowing what would happen, which path she would choose. She'd made it abundantly clear. "You're my imprint. I would do…anything for you." I finally looked up into her devastatingly hopeful face. "If you ask me to leave alone…I will."

End Note: The development here is essential to the story so please stick with me. I have a plan and Jacob and Nessie won't be suffering for long. Also, I know that Nessie's feelings towards her parents right now seem harsh but there is a plan for that as well. I LOVE reviews so if you're enjoying this story at all, please let me know!


	8. Chapter 8

**This chapter is mostly for fun and for establishing a bond between Nessie and Embry because I think they'd be good friends. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it! As always, reviews are greatly appreciated and encouraged. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. **

Nessie's POV:

I learned how to read music before words. My dad taught me how to pick out a melody and thread the lyrics through it. I've been writing music and lyrics since I was old enough to sit upright on a piano stool. I have countless journals filled with songs.

After I asked Jake to ignore me, I wrote more songs in three days than I had in my entire life.

It felt like heartbreak but I told myself relentlessly that it was ludicrous. I didn't know Jake. I certainly hadn't loved him. But his absence in my life and his determination to not notice me in class were producing some hella good, angst-ridden, heartbreak material from me.

It was just past nine when I finally left the pianist's rehearsal room. The campus was dark and spooky, filled with shadows and misty air, and I loved it and felt like running out to hunt but my belly was still sloshing full from the five blood bags I'd drained a few hours ago. My appetite had been unusually acute since my quasi break up with Jake. I had already sent word to Carlisle to send me more.

Caitlin was sprawled on the floor, eating raw cookie dough and watching some medical show when I got back to our room.

"Let's go out!"

"Now?" She looked at me, then at herself, clad in her Spiderman pajamas. "But…_House_ just became available on Netflix."

"Which means you can watch it whenever." I stepped over her and shut off the television. "It's Friday night. We haven't been out of this room in a week. Let's do something."

"Like what? We go to private school, remember?"

"It's not prison. We're allowed out of the gates."

She got up, scratching at her hair as she scrunched her nose at me. "I did hear about some party."

"Perfect! Let's get ready!" I went to our closet and started sifting through my endless selection of dresses that Alice insisted I bring. "What should I wear?"

"Your uniform."

I turned to her with a frown. "Isn't that the opposite of sexy?"

"Not when you pair it with fishnet stockings. At least, according to boys."

When I continued to just gaze at her in confusion, she giggled. "It's a theme party: Nerdy and Flirty."

I rolled the waistband of my plaid skirt up as much as I could, exposing more of my thighs than anyone had ever seen. I wore a black bra underneath my white button up shirt and left most of the top buttons undone. My tie hung loosely knotted around my neck, my hair was in braided pigtails adorned at the bottom with ribbons and my fishnet stockings (_why Alice had actually packed me fishnet stockings, I will never understand_) disappeared into my high-heeled leather booties. I spun in front of the mirror, trying to see how much of my ass would be displayed if I had to bend over.

"Did I do this right? Do I look flirty?" I asked Caitlin when she emerged from the bathroom.

"Hell, yeah! You look hot."

I caught her reflection in the mirror and spun around quickly. "What the fuck are you wearing?"

She appraised her outfit: ill-fitting khaki pants and a pinstriped shirt tucked in neatly, leather belt, fake glasses, leather loafers and a calculator in the pocket of her shirt. She even had suspenders and a bowtie on, completing her female Urkel ensemble. "It's _Nerdy_ and Flirty. You're clearly flirty, so I had to be nerdy."

I glared at her. "You're making that rule up."

"What's the big deal? You look amazing."

"We were supposed to both be flirty. I look like a two dollar hooker!"

"Yeah, but a cute one." She picked up her purse and threw my leather jacket at my face. "Let's get there before all the good stuff is gone."

The apartment she led me too was just off campus, in the woods. I was sure I had never seen so many people gathered in one place before. There were hot, sweaty bodies everywhere. It was impossible not to inadvertently rub up against people.

Caitlin escorted me through the place like she owned it. Partiers called to her over the pulsing music and she waved, a princess granting her people with a rare appearance. We eventually got to the kitchen. There was a gathering to get to what Caitlin informed me was the keg and we got in line to wait our turn.

The guy manning the keg turned out to be Carter and he whooped with delight when he saw us. "Where have you been all my life, gorgeous?" He slung his arm around Caitlin, who smiled up at him sweetly.

"Waiting in this damn line for a freaking drink!" she yelled. He laughed and kissed her sloppily on the cheek before handing us each a glass filled with clear liquid.

"Is this the good stuff you were referring to?" I asked. Carter was still gazing at her when he answered me.

"Only the best for you."

"By all means, don't deny the queen her spoils." A bored, insolent voice drifted from behind Carter. Will was sprawled on the counter, sporting his signature sneer. "And if it pleases her majesty, by all means serve her pet, too."

"What the hell is your problem?" I wanted to smack that ridiculous expression off his face.

He slithered from his perch like a snake. "I don't like liars," he breathed. Caitlin and Carter were too wrapped up in each other to notice.

"Well, I don't like assholes so maybe we should just stay away from each other."

He clapped his hands together just once, feigning delight. "I wish but I'm afraid that you have something I want."

With those words, I truly feared Will for the first time. "Come again?"

He reached out and pulled on the braids in my hair. "In good time, love. All things in good time."

"What's with all the monikers? Did you forget my real name?"

He winked at me as his mouth twisted into something that was almost a smile. "No Nessie. I'll never forget it."

"Quit being creepy, Will." Carter slid across the counter and punched Will playfully in the arm. "It's a party."

Will glared at him briefly before inclining his head in a half nod and sauntering away.

"My hero!" Caitlin giggled and gave his waist a squeeze. "Why don't you do that every time he's around?"

Carter sobered to the moment slightly and brushed some of Caitlin's hair over her ear. "He's still suffering. He not like he was…before."

Suddenly, the ghost of Aaron was crowding into the kitchen.

Caitlin shut down. "He was still an ass," she mumbled as she pulled away from him.

"Sure, but slightly more lovable."

"I'm going to show off my hot date," Caitlin declared before snagging my arm and dragging me away.

"Save me a dance!" Carter called after us.

"He's so crazy," she said.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, about you."

She scoffed. "Please, Ness. He's wasted."

"Drunk words are sober thoughts."

She laughed out loud and hit me on the shoulder. "Where the hell did you learn that?"

"I was a homeschool kid, not a nun. I was allowed to watch movies." The party was reminding me of some key scenes from my favorite teen rom-coms. Shots were being downed, half-naked girls were dancing on tables, and people were making out all over the damn place. Some poor soul was even throwing up behind the sofa. It was kind of amazing. "Honestly," I whispered to Caitlin, "I didn't think parties like this actually happened."

She patted me on the back. "Explore, my friend. These unchartered waters may prove very rewarding for you." I had to assume she was talking about the multitude of guys that were lasciviously staring at me. I couldn't help but feel flattered. After years of being cooped up with over-bearing parents, it was exciting to be around guys my own age and realize that I was attractive to them. "You're a hot commodity, girl."

We were walking around, or 'doing a lap,' as Caitlin called it, sipping our drinks and dancing, more like swaying, when I noticed Embry. He was standing off to the side, his perpetual smile in place while chatting with Leah. I nudged Caitlin and pointed them out.

"He's allowed to come to parties and hang out with us. He's not a real teacher," she explained. "She's cute. I wonder if that's his girlfriend."

"No, she's not," I replied too quickly.

Caitlin eyed me with good-humored suspicion. "Did he tell you that during your private study date?"

I shoved her. "I told you. It was no big deal."

"Mmmm hmmm…"

"I should go say hi."

"Of course you should," she giggled.

I was gone before she could make another snide comment. Embry's eyes flared wide when he saw me. Leah leaned away, into Embry and growled.

"Hey guys!" I tried to sound cheerful but it wasn't too convincing.

"Hey! Nice outfit." If another guy had said it, I could've taken offense to the snarky tone his comment carried. But Embry was too…light. There was a boyish cheerfulness to him that I envied.

"Thanks."

"The theme is Nerdy and Flirty. Not Nerdy and Whore bags." Leah whipped to Embry and I had to fade back so I wouldn't get smacked in the face by her short, choppy hair. "I'm getting another drink."

Embry smiled tensely and she stalked away. I swiveled to him. "So I'm guessing Jake told you all what happened."

He sighed, shrugged, shook his head. "He didn't really have a choice." He inched close to whisper in my ear. "Wolves have this mind-reading telepathy thing with each other."

"Sounds invasive."

"Very." He agreed grimly.

"She's really mad, huh?"

He blew out an exhausted breath through his lips. "She's been with Jake through every miserable moment of his life. When you showed up, she thought she'd seen the last of them."

I nodded, understanding perfectly. I didn't need the imprint influence to sense that Jake was a good guy, purely good, down to his bones. He didn't deserve any suffering. "I really didn't mean to hurt him. It's just all of this-"

"I get it."

"You do? Have you imprinted?"

He chuckled. "No, but like I mentioned, I'm privy to every one of Jake's tortured thoughts." I winced and Embry immediately took up a more somber attitude. "Hey." He grabbed my chin and forced our eyes to meet. "He's a big bad Alpha werewolf. He'll find some way to survive you."

The way he said survive made an icy dread shoot down my spine. "That's the whole point I was trying to make to him."

"What do you mean?"

My brain automatically shifted through the many verses I'd penned over the last three days. "I'm sure I didn't say it right. I was kind of a mess."

Embry smiled, a soft laugh snorting from his nose. "I heard."

I mock glared at him before heaving a steadying breath, trying to form my thoughts into an intelligible speech. "The way he spoke about the imprint and my mom and the way he felt about her and me…I couldn't help but pity him. He's so trapped by this…curse. He pined after a girl for years just because she was the closet thing he had to me."

"I thought most girls would find that romantic."

"Maybe they do but…I don't." I dropped my gaze from him. I was sure my whole heart was shining out of my eyes and I didn't want him to realize how vulnerable this whole situation had made me. "I think you should be with someone because you want them, not because you need them."

He tilted his head, considering my rationale. "You don't think it's good to be the person that completes someone's life?"

"That's not how I see it." I chugged down a healthy slug of my drink before trying to explain more fully. "My mom basically became comatose when my dad left her for her own safety. My dad tried to kill himself when he thought she was dead. She jumped off a cliff so that she could hallucinate his face while he was gone." I shook my head, wondering not for the first time how it was possible to love and hate, respect and despise at the same time. "I don't ever want to be so dependent on another person. That's no way to live." The last measure of liquor sloshed down my throat, granting me the last bit of bravado I needed to tell Embry the final thing about this fishy imprint business that annoyed the shit out of me. "Last complaint and then I promise to stop ruining this party for you."

His eyes sparkled as his grin almost split his face open. "Thank God."

"This is going to sound really spoiled and entitled and naive and I hope you won't think less of me because I think you're pretty awesome." Then, I whispered in his ear, "I want him to earn me. I don't want to fall for a guy because the universe or some ridiculous supernatural magic says I have to. I want to fall in love with the guy that sweeps me off my feet."

I pulled back and to my surprise, Embry was clenching his teeth together, trying not to laugh. I was shocked, offended. I thought I'd been rather profound.

"What?"

"Fuck, you guys are perfect for each other."

I held my hand up, exasperated with men. "You obviously weren't listening to me."

"I was and I get it, I get your point. But I also know Jake. And I don't think you should dismiss him too quickly."

"I didn't dismiss him! He walked away pretty easily."

"You asked him to."

"So what?"

"You didn't want him to walk away?"

"No! I mean…yea-I don't…shut up! You are annoying."

He chuckled and took the now empty glass from my hand to place it on a nearby table before grabbing onto my elbow. "And you're drunk. I'm taking you home."

"You don't have to do that. I need to find Caitlin."

He pointed across the room and I followed the direction until I saw Caitlin wrapped up in Carter's arms. "I'm sure she'll be fine."

"I knew he liked her!" I exclaimed as Embry led me to the front door.

He shouldered most of my weight as we shuffled back to campus. I was half passed out when we reached the edge of campus, drunk on AB positive and vodka. It might've been a pleasant feeling if I was sitting down.

"You're a sweetie. I'm not your problem."

"You're not a problem at all," he assured me.

My body warmed with genuine affection for him. "Can we be friends?"

"I think we can manage that." I heard the laughter in his voice and liked him even more. I kissed him on the cheek.

"You da best."

"I know. Now which dorm is yours?"

He planted me on my feet but kept a steadying hand on my waist. I glanced around, hoping for something familiar to jump out at my impaired brain. All the buildings were remarkably similar and I grew frustrated pretty quickly until I noticed an indistinct shape on the grass near a far building. "I think it's that one."

"You sure?" Embry asked while he rummaged through my purse for my keys.

"Pretty sure. That's Jake being a stalking psycho, isn't it?" I'd never seen a werewolf before but the thing sleeping on the grass was definitely dog-like and enormous, ten times bigger than a regular wolf. I could hear him snoring from across the yard. There was no other explanation.

Embry snapped his head up in alarm. He followed my gaze and groaned when he saw the same distant figure. "Poor bastard."

"Poor _creepy_ bastard."

Embry handed my purse and keys to me before jerking his head toward the front door. "Get inside. I'll take him home."

"Thanks. For everything."

He punched my playfully on the chin and then jogged over to the sleeping werewolf. I rushed inside, closing the door quickly behind me as Embry began to rouse Jake.

Sleep managed to elude me that night while I wrote a song I eventually titled 'Watchdog.'


End file.
